First, i want to thank everyone on this board for providing so much information about the new Focuses. I've had my new 2012 Focus SE for a week, and what I've read on these message boards was very helpful in making my decision.

I'm having a problem with the SYNC system, I've searched the forums (and the internet in general) and have found no information on this. I'm not sure if the best thing to do would be to start a new post or to add on to this thread, so my apologies if I'm doing this "wrong".

I've got the "basic" SYNC package, not MyFordTouch.
I finally (after 3 tries) got a portable hard drive formatted correctly (that is, FAT32, not NTFS or exFAT) and it has all my music on it. Voice control works great. So far working very smoothly.

I can plug in my tiny MP3 player (which I use for library audiobooks that have DRM) into the line-in and listen to that. From there, I can switch over to the USB and have my full music library available. However, when I try to switch back to the Line In *after* I have played music of the USB hard drive, the car tells me: "Line in is unavailable when a device is connected to USB".
To switch back to line in I have to open the center console and unplug the hard drive. It automatically switches back to line in. I can immediately plug the hard drive back in and the line in continues playing.

So, as the line in seems to work with a USB device connected, it seems like this is some kind of software glitch. Is this really the way this is supposed to behave? Has anyone else run across this? Any chance that there's an update out there that will fix this?

Thanks for all your help,
Joe

PS: is it just me, or, even though "shuff" appears all the time when playing music over USB, (Down the bottom, as a "tab" induiction of what the four buttons on the radio head do) there is no actual indication of if Shuffle is ON of OFF? Am I missing something?

First, i want to thank everyone on this board for providing so much information about the new Focuses. I've had my new 2012 Focus SE for a week, and what I've read on these message boards was very helpful in making my decision.

I'm having a problem with the SYNC system, I've searched the forums (and the internet in general) and have found no information on this. I'm not sure if the best thing to do would be to start a new post or to add on to this thread, so my apologies if I'm doing this "wrong".

I've got the "basic" SYNC package, not MyFordTouch.
I finally (after 3 tries) got a portable hard drive formatted correctly (that is, FAT32, not NTFS or exFAT) and it has all my music on it. Voice control works great. So far working very smoothly.

I can plug in my tiny MP3 player (which I use for library audiobooks that have DRM) into the line-in and listen to that. From there, I can switch over to the USB and have my full music library available. However, when I try to switch back to the Line In *after* I have played music of the USB hard drive, the car tells me: "Line in is unavailable when a device is connected to USB".
To switch back to line in I have to open the center console and unplug the hard drive. It automatically switches back to line in. I can immediately plug the hard drive back in and the line in continues playing.

So, as the line in seems to work with a USB device connected, it seems like this is some kind of software glitch. Is this really the way this is supposed to behave? Has anyone else run across this? Any chance that there's an update out there that will fix this?

Thanks for all your help,
Joe

PS: is it just me, or, even though "shuff" appears all the time when playing music over USB, (Down the bottom, as a "tab" induiction of what the four buttons on the radio head do) there is no actual indication of if Shuffle is ON of OFF? Am I missing something?

Unfortunately, I can't speak with 100% certainty since I have MFT and not the basic SYNC package... but my guess would be for whatever reason it's designed so that when you plug in and play a USB device it disables the line in altogether. A stupid design, I agree, but if you're getting a message on screen saying just that, then I'm sure they did it on purpose.

What kind of MP3 player are you using? And do the basic SYNC equipped cars have just one or two USBs? I would say if you have an iPod or a Zune, connect it via USB with the sync/charge cable you got with it, because then you'll be charging and you'll also be able to control the content via the SYNC screen. (This should actually work with any MP3 player provided it uses a USB interface with your computer)

Of course this adds to the inconvenience if you only have one USB, so that suggestion is really only great if you have two USBs like the MFT cars do.

Otherwise, hopefully some more SYNC owners chime in with input and maybe a Ford IVT team member has some more light to shed on the issue.

And, you've posted correctly! Always better to post about problems/questions with an existing topic rather than create a new one every time, so thanks for that!

What kind of MP3 player are you using? And do the basic SYNC equipped cars have just one or two USBs?

The Basic Sync cars only have a single USB. I have a iPod touch which I can connect via Bluetooth (used for podcasts) and the hard drive (used for music, since I can't fit all my music onto the Touch.)

The cheapo MP3 player is a very old Sansa. It's useful for Library books because even though those have a DRM time limit (they are "checked out" for 2 weeks) I can listen to them indefinitely because the cheapo player doesn't have a clock. Very useful when trying to get through the 37-disc-long "Game of Thrones" books- I'm not in the car for 40 hours in 2 weeks.

The other reason I use the line in is because if you plug it into something to access via the USB, it "forgets" where it was when it was just playing. I'll often drag it out of the car to listen while I'm working, and it's no fun to try to fast-forward through 70 minutes of audio, not to mention you have to remember what disc you were on and where you were.

Anyway, I just ran through the "version check" process on the SyncMyRide site, and it reports I have "Gen1 - V3.1.1" which, as best I can tell, is the latest for my car.

After reading through that, I doubt that I will ever see an update for this car. It would be nice if Ford gave a little more insight into what was the latest version for each vehicle and system.

Disappointing that Ford does not seem to be providing updates for real bugs in the system. I guess, like all software companies, they'd like us to move to the "subscription" system and just buy a new car every year. I plan on keeping this for a good long while. The car I traded in was a 2001 Focus wagon with 163,000 miles.

The Basic Sync cars only have a single USB. I have a iPod touch which I can connect via Bluetooth (used for podcasts) and the hard drive (used for music, since I can't fit all my music onto the Touch.)

The cheapo MP3 player is a very old Sansa. It's useful for Library books because even though those have a DRM time limit (they are "checked out" for 2 weeks) I can listen to them indefinitely because the cheapo player doesn't have a clock. Very useful when trying to get through the 37-disc-long "Game of Thrones" books- I'm not in the car for 40 hours in 2 weeks.

The other reason I use the line in is because if you plug it into something to access via the USB, it "forgets" where it was when it was just playing. I'll often drag it out of the car to listen while I'm working, and it's no fun to try to fast-forward through 70 minutes of audio, not to mention you have to remember what disc you were on and where you were.

Anyway, I just ran through the "version check" process on the SyncMyRide site, and it reports I have "Gen1 - V3.1.1" which, as best I can tell, is the latest for my car.

After reading through that, I doubt that I will ever see an update for this car. It would be nice if Ford gave a little more insight into what was the latest version for each vehicle and system.

Disappointing that Ford does not seem to be providing updates for real bugs in the system. I guess, like all software companies, they'd like us to move to the "subscription" system and just buy a new car every year. I plan on keeping this for a good long while. The car I traded in was a 2001 Focus wagon with 163,000 miles.

:/ That's unfortunate, sorry to hear that. Yes it seems, sadly, that Ford, like many software companies do, is deciding to forget about the older Sync system and instead focus more on the MFT and it's future, although that so far has been very hit or miss as well...

I have a 2013 Escape SE with Sync and I believe it has MFT. On the window sticker it says "Sync/MyFord" however it does not have the Sony setup nor the 201A package. Although I know it does have GPS built in as the salesman showed me how that worked. Is there a way to play the regular am/fm radiO through voice commands, and, if so what are the commands?

I have a 2013 Escape SE with Sync and I believe it has MFT. On the window sticker it says "Sync/MyFord" however it does not have the Sony setup nor the 201A package. Although I know it does have GPS built in as the salesman showed me how that worked. Is there a way to play the regular am/fm radiO through voice commands, and, if so what are the commands?

I would guess you do not have the touch system of the MyFord. This is only available when you have the Sony audio upgraded system.

I can confirm that on a 2012 SE with Sync w/MyFord (no touch) not all of those commands in that PDF work. Basically, as far as the radio goes, you can only control the USB/Line In/Bluetooth via Voice.
You cannot control the Am/FM or Sirus using voice commands.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Ford Focus Forum, Ford Focus ST Forum, Ford Focus RS Forum forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

What I Drive

Year, color, and model of your car. Example: 2003 Pitch Black ZX3

Name

Your real name.

City

State

Country

Insurance

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name

Remember Me?

Password

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.